Name: The Girls Are Never Gone
ISBN: 9781984836151

Sarah Glenn Marsh

The Conjuring meets Sadie when seventeen-year-old podcaster Dare takes an internship in a haunted house and finds herself in a life-or-death struggle against an evil spirit. Dare Chase doesn't believe in ghosts. Privately, she's a supernatural skeptic. But publicly, she's keeping her doubts to herself--because she's the voice of Attachments, her brand-new paranormal investigation podcast, and she needs her ghost-loving listeners to tune in. That's what brings her to Arrington Estate. Thirty years ago, teenager Atheleen Bell drowned in Arrington's lake, and legend says her spirit haunts the estate. Dare's more interested in the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death--circumstances that she believes point to a living culprit, not the supernatural. Still, she's vowed to keep an open mind as she investigates, even if she's pretty sure what she'll find. But Arrington is full of surprises. Good ones like Quinn, the cute daughter of the house's new owner. And baffling ones like the threatening messages left scrawled in paint on Quinn's walls, the ghastly face that appears behind Dare's own in the mirror, and the unnatural current that nearly drowns their friend Holly in the lake. As Dare is drawn deeper into the mysteries of Arrington, she'll have to rethink the boundaries of what is possible. Because if something is lurking in the lake...it might not be willing to let her go.

The Girls Are Never Gone

Cass McCullough

this book kept me hooked from beginning to end! 10/10 recommend!

Holly

If I had a nickel for every time I read a book involving ghosts, drowning, and a girl named Holly, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Caitlyn DeRouin

Candyce Kirk

Josee Blanchard

So pleasant, the friendship with this, is one that I love, creep vibe was 100% there, I had to stop reading a few times. That’s what I adore about hauntings or disturbing books. The unknown is what I appreciate, and the back story of how the house got haunted, it's sad and good. That’s always the portion that I love with ghosts/hauntings. When I tell you that the ending is not expected, believe me it did shock me I even gave it 4 stars. This kind of book will be on my mind for a long time.

laura

* I got this book for review from the publisher*

This was a super engaging and fast pace read. I thought this book was a fun balance between mystery and also a supernatural mystery. I also really did enjoy the podcast element at the heart of this read. I also loved the LGBTQ romance at the heart of the book. This book also had a very eerie and creepy setting that captured me, This book also a very female focused cast. The reveal was one that I did not predict and it was super engaging read. I liked how she kept it open to maybe writing more with these characters in the future. Def a prefect summer/ early fall read. It would classify this book as eerie but not horror. I also thought the rep for diabetes was a type of rep. I had not read before!! Great work, def check it out!

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher and then bought my own ebook copy. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Girls Are Never Gone

Author: Sarah Glenn Marsh

Book Series: Standalone

Diversity: T1 Diabetes bisexual MC, Service dog, Puerto Rican lesbian side character, F/f romance

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: young adult readers, paranormal, mystery, thriller

Genre: YA Paranormal Mystery

Publication Date: September 7, 2021

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 336

Recommended Age: 14+ (romance, slight animal gore, death, Underage alcohol consumption, Slight religion talk)

Explanation of CWs: Just an FYI, the animal gore seen in this book is just from the skeletal remains of other, long-dead animals. The religion talk is also very slight and in passing.

Synopsis: Dare Chase doesn’t believe in ghosts.

Privately, she’s a supernatural skeptic. But publicly, she’s keeping her doubts to herself—because she’s the voice of Attachments, her brand-new paranormal investigation podcast, and she needs her ghost-loving listeners to tune in.

That’s what brings her to Arrington Estate. Thirty years ago, teenager Atheleen Bell drowned in Arrington’s lake, and legend says her spirit haunts the estate. Dare’s more interested in the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death—circumstances that she believes point to a living culprit, not the supernatural. Still, she’s vowed to keep an open mind as she investigates, even if she’s pretty sure what she’ll find.

But Arrington is full of surprises. Good ones like Quinn, the cute daughter of the house’s new owner. And baffling ones like the threatening messages left scrawled in paint on Quinn’s walls, the ghastly face that appears behind Dare’s own in the mirror, and the unnatural current that nearly drowns their friend Holly in the lake. As Dare is drawn deeper into the mysteries of Arrington, she’ll have to rethink the boundaries of what is possible. Because if something is lurking in the lake…it might not be willing to let her go.

Review: I really liked this book. I thought that the story of all was very entertaining and it definitely provided the Spooks I needed to get into the Halloween spirit. I also liked the bond between all of the girls and I really liked the sapphic romance. I thought that the World building and character development were really well done and the writing was marvelous, although I might be a bit biased because this is one of my favorite authors.

The only real issues I had with the book is that there or two distinct monsters that I felt needed a little bit more development on the page but also the ending was a little abstract in what happened. We don't have the real motives behind the monsters, which you can argue makes for a really good monster, but we also don't have a clear cut ending to the story which is kind of giving me hope that maybe in the future there will be a sequel because I need to know. And if you have read this book then you know what I need to know.

Verdict: It was so good.

Samantha Bass

Check out my full review on my blog We Write at Dawn!

I read Sarah's other YA series, Reign of the Fallen, and absolutely loved it! That book was more fantasy than paranormal, but it's a world where the dead come back to life and it's so eerie. This book is more paranormal fantasy, set in our world, and oh my gosh it creeped me out!

One of my favorite things about the book is the paranormal investigator main character who doesn't believe in ghosts. Dare doesn't believe in ghosts, but she's willing to go into this "haunted" space to find out more about the home and the mysterious deaths of girls who have lived there, the history behind the original family, and the weird stuff that is going on. Her podcast, which I loved the inclusion of the podcast episodes, is set around this home and her experiences and it was so fun seeing her opinion change over time. 

Being in that house would have terrified me. As they're working to renovate the home and spruce it up, weird stuff starts happening. Dare hears scratching by her window when there's no branches nearby or anything to scratch it. The girls hear and see weird things that they can't explain. Girls have died in the lake and they can feel it calling to them. The weird stuff begins to build up and if it was me, I would have hightailed it out of there after the first night!

Sarah does a great job setting up the history and the mystery for Dare to solve. I was so invested in what was going on and while I was terrified, I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. The ending absolutely killed me and I really, really hope we get a sequel! I have some unanswered questions that I really need answered, so hopefully we get another book to figure out what's going on. 

If you love ghost stories, thrillers, disability rep, or wlw romances - this is a great book to pick up! I loved this book and I will be patiently waiting for some kind of sequel or at least answers for some of my questions.

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to TBR & Beyond Tours, Sarah Glenn Marsh, Netgalley, and Razorbill for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.


I adore Sarah Glenn Marsh first of all, so anything that I read from her I know I’m going to love. But I also know that her stories can get pretty scary when she wants them to be, and that’s what happened here. I was on the edge of my seat, trying to find out if Dare and her service dog Waffles were going to survive the haunted house, and wondering why she would even take that chance in the first place!

So what was Dare doing in a haunted house in the first place? Well, even though she’s a huge supernatural skeptic, she runs a podcast called Attachments, which is a paranormal-investigation podcast and still pretty brand-new. Don’t get me wrong, I can understand someone not believing in something, but wanting to get out and explore it anyway, but I don’t mess with paranormal stuff. Nope, there have been too many times where something happens that I just can’t explain, spirits that I feel around me in certain houses, etc. For someone that is a skeptic, I would feel like things would get pretty bad BECAUSE I didn’t believe in it, you know? But either way Dare ends up getting the opportunity to travel to the Arrington Estate, where it is believed that Atheleen Bell from thirty years ago haunts the estate to this day due to her drowning in the lake near the property. Could it be just a local legend, or will Dare find some information to lead to what could have actually been a murder?

Honestly, anything that SGM writes is amazing. Not only does she show amazing representation that is realistic and not a trope, and being able to have the kind of writing to suck you into the story from the get go, I just can never go wrong with one of her novels. I highly recommend this, and I hope you get the chance to go on this paranormal adventure with Dare, Waffles, and the others that may or may not be alive in this story. Just keep an open mind, like Dare did when she first got to the Estate.

Thank you to Andy for listing all of the rep and CWs for this novel. I wouldn’t have gotten them all:

Rep: Bisexual chronically ill female MC (type 1 diabetes), sapphic Bourican/biracial love interest.

CWs: Animal death (not on page, but skeletons are found), blood, chronic illness (type 1 diabetes), death, ghostly haunting, medical content, murder, stalking, toxic relationship, violence, vomit.

Kerri McDonald

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“After all, ghost stories are human stories, brimming with life, with history, drama, and personality. They’re as enduring as we are.”
(This is taken from an uncorrected proof; it may change in the final version.)

You know what I realized as I read this book? That I definitely went into this thinking it was mystery (don’t ask me why…), but I was not at all mad that it was actually a horror novel. This is the second YA horror novel I’ve read in the past few weeks and, I have to say, this book makes me want to pick up more!

We’re following the story of a young woman named Dare Chase. Dare has signed up for a summer internship to help restore an old mansion at the edge of a lake. But the real reason that she volunteered was to investigate the possible haunting of the mansion and the mysterious drowning that happened there twenty years ago for her new pararnormal investigation podcast, Attachments. Dare doesn’t believe in ghosts, but she knows this is just the sort of thing her audience would love. As she searches the house for clues with the help of the owner’s cute daughter, Quinn, and the other summer intern, Holly, she begins to realize there may be more to this haunted house than she thought.

Y’all, when I say this book creeped me out, I say that with my entire chest. Sarah Glenn Marsh should write for horror films because the imagery was on point! There was a moment in this story where I legitimately felt my stomach fall (has to do with a ceiling… you’ll know when you get there) and I freakin’ loved it. The overall atmosphere of this story was perfect; it was dark, haunting, frightening, and definitely gave me a few chills. I love a horror novel that nails the spooky feeling of that which scares us, and this book did it magnificently.

Beyond the creepy feels, I really enjoyed getting to know the characters, as well! Dare is such a compelling main character, with her skepticism and her determination. The fact that she also has Type 1 diabetes plays a pretty big role in this story, as well. I can’t speak to the rep as I don’t have the disease and have only ever known people with Type 2, but I liked that it was a big part of the book because it’s a big part of Dare as a person. She isn’t her disease, but it isn’t ignored, either. I loved how intense she is and how fiercely she’s willing to protect people she cares about. She’s such a strong main character which made this book even more compelling. The other characters didn’t snag quite as much in my mind, probably because we spend all of our time from Dare’s point of view. And I will say that the romance between her and Quinn felt a little insta-lovey… but what summer romance isn’t? Even if this one had a heavy backdrop of ghosts and death.

As for this plot of this haunted tale, I found myself guessing pretty early on where it was going. But I still really enjoyed the ride! This was a well-paced, well thought out novel that had my heart hammering for several pages at the end. I got completely swept up in the mystery and, if that isn’t a sign of a great book, I don’t know what is!

Final thoughts: This was such a gripping tale and I’m glad I read it now because it has put me in the Spooky Mood! The atmosphere was top-notch, the main character is incredible to watch, and the plot had my heart racing! I thought the other characters felt a little lacking and I did guess some pretty big twists early on, but I still enjoyed this book thoroughly. If you like YA horror (or horror in general) that has a dash of romance, a dash of mystery, and plenty of frights, I think you would enjoy The Girls Are Never Gone!

Becca Futrell

Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an e-ARC of The Girls Are Never Gone in exchange for an honest review!

Listen, listen — I love YA horror so much, but I will be the first to admit that they don’t always hit. They’re good, they’re fine, but I move on pretty quickly after closing the book. The Girls Are Never Gone, however, is one that I can guarantee will stick with me. It’s probably my biggest surprise of the year — not that I thought it’d be bad, but I just didn’t think that it’d become an instafave.

Let’s start with the horror elements, yeah? One of my favorite things is when a skeptic is forced to become a believer — in order for someone who’s so strong within their beliefs that ghosts are not real, something majorly terrifying would have to happen. & friends, that’s obviously what happens in The Girls Are Never Gone. There are a couple of horror scenes in this one that left me with chills & as someone who’s so desensitized when it comes to the horror genre, this is wild.

The Girls Are Never Gone is perfect for fans of haunted houses & small towns with a secret trope. 

On the not-so-scary side of things, The Girls Are Never Gone is such a fantastic story about friendship. We have three girls who come together for this internship and bond over the strange occurrences happening at this house; it comes to a point where they're willing to sacrifice their own safety for the safety of the other girls & my heart. I was so here for this trio. Plus! Two of the girls are romantically involved, and yassss, we are here for it. 

We can't forget to discuss one of my favorite characters, Waffles. Waffles is a service dog & he plays just as much as a character as the humans in this story. Which, btws, he's a service dog for our main character, Dare, who has diabetes -- so not only is there LGBTQ+ rep in this book but also Type 1 diabetes rep -- which is something I don't think I've seen previously in a book.

As can be expected, The Girls Are Never Gone has a lot of mystery & plot twists. A lot of things go over my head, so you can take this with a grain of salt — but I didn’t see any of the plot twists coming. And the ending left me with GOOSEFLESH. Loves it.

I definitely recommend picking up The Girls Are Never Gone! & it’s out just in time for spooky season!

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Christine Bruce

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Lila Raymond

The Conjuring meets Sadie in this queer ghost story, when seventeen-year-old podcaster Dare finds herself in a life-or-death struggle against an evil spirit. Dare Chase doesn’t believe in ghosts. But as the host of Attachments, her brand-new paranormal investigation podcast, she knows to keep her doubts to herself if she wants to win over listeners. Her first season’s subject is the Arrington Estate—a sprawling manor rumored to be haunted by the spirit of Atheleen Bell, who drowned in its lake almost thirty years ago. Dare’s more interested in investigating the suspicious circumstances of Atheleen’s death, which she thinks point to a decades-old murder, not something supernatural. But Arrington is full of surprises. As Dare is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the estate, she’ll have to rethink the boundaries of what is possible. Because if something is lurking in the lake…it might not be willing to let her go.